Dubai — Standard Chartered Bank on Wednesday named former Chelsea and Ivory Coast football star Didier Drogba as its Digital Bank Ambassador in Africa.

Set to launch in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire on March 14, 2018, Standard Chartered's first and fully digital retail bank in West Africa marks an important milestone in the Bank's path towards innovation and has been designed with continuous feedback from its clients.

As part of this role, Drogba will be promoting the digital bank in Côte d'Ivoire, set to disrupt the traditional banking sector in the nation. He will lend his voice and image rights through a series of Marketing and Community engagement activities over the next 12 months as part of the campaign.

Drogba also becomes the first person in Côte D'Ivoire to open a fully digital account at Standard Chartered Bank.

"We are thrilled to be working with Didier Drogba to launch our first digital bank. Drogba is an inspiration, not only due to his athletic excellence, but also for his generosity and commitment to giving back to his fellow Ivorians.

Drogba's priorities and ideals are very much in line with the Bank, making him an ideal partner for this momentous new offering.

The launch of our digital bank in Côte d'Ivoire is an important chapter in our developing turnaround story for the region. Going digital also means progression, not just for our business, but also for our clients, and we look forward to revealing details of our first-ever digital bank very soon."

"Didier Drogba was the natural choice for us to launch this exciting, truly digital bank. He is a hero and a role model in Côte d'Ivoire and has always demonstrated his strong emotional ties to his home country.

This partnership opens up a great opportunity to contribute to the social and economic wellbeing of the country where we have been operating since 2001.

The campaign which Drogba will spearhead aims at not only raising awareness for our innovative digital offering but also at further enhancing financial literacy across the country, and this is an exceptionally important undertaking for the future of Côte d'Ivoire."

Isaac Foly, Chief Executive Officer, Côte d'Ivoire, said: "Not only am I thrilled to be working with Didier Drogba on behalf of Standard Chartered Bank, I am thrilled to be working with him as a fellow Ivorian.

Drogba represents the true values and ideals of our great country and has truly been a role model for the young population of Côte d'Ivoire. We look forward to working with Drogba to help increase access to financial services across the country.

Throughout his career, he has never forgotten where he came from and always made his fellow Ivorians proud. This, indeed, makes him the perfect partner for this launch."

Speaking on his new endorsement, Didier Drogba said: "I am excited to be working with Standard Chartered Bank and honoured to be chosen to support their efforts to enhance accessibility to banking services for the people of my country.

This is an initiative which I am truly proud to be a part of, as the cause is close to my heart. I am also looking forward to spending more quality time in Côte d'Ivoire and getting involved in a cause that is of high importance to the local community. I am truly grateful for this opportunity and can't wait to engage with my fans on social media to spread the word."

Through the launch of the digital bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Didier Drogba hope to bridge the gap between the traditional banking model and the new, digital savvy generation in Côte d'Ivoire, aiming to make banking services simple, more accessible and convenient.

AllAfrica publishes around 800 reports a day from more than 140 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

AllAfrica is a voice of, by and about Africa - aggregating, producing and distributing 800 news and information items daily from over 140 African news organizations and our own reporters to an African and global public. We operate from Cape Town, Dakar, Abuja, Monrovia, Nairobi and Washington DC.